Learn how to use singular and plural nouns in Modern Greek
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Fay: Hello. Beginner Season 1, Lesson 6 - Greek Millions and Billions. I’m Faye. |
| Chrissi: Chrissi here. |
| Fay: What are we learning in this lesson |
| Chrissi: We are looking at the numbers – singular or plural – of Greek nouns. |
| Fay: The conversation takes place in front of a kiosk in Athens. |
| Chrissi: It’s between Petra Gordon and a Greek stranger. |
| Fay: Although the characters don’t know each other, the conversation is informal. |
| Chrissi: Let’s listen. |
Lesson conversation |
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| Πέτρα: Τι είναι αυτό; Καινούριο δάνειο 100 δισεκατομμύρια ευρώ; |
| Γυναίκα: Ναι. Σχεδόν 80 εκατομμύρια κάθε μήνα για τους επόμενους δώδεκα μήνες. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Δηλαδή, είναι 1000 ευρώ κάθε μήνα για κάθε Έλληνα πολίτη; |
| Γυναίκα: Μακάρι! |
| Fay: Now with the slow version. |
| Πέτρα: Τι είναι αυτό; Καινούριο δάνειο 100 δισεκατομμύρια ευρώ; |
| Γυναίκα: Ναι. Σχεδόν 80 εκατομμύρια κάθε μήνα για τους επόμενους δώδεκα μήνες. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Δηλαδή, είναι 1000 ευρώ κάθε μήνα για κάθε Έλληνα πολίτη; |
| Γυναίκα: Μακάρι! |
| Fay: Now with the English translation. |
| Πέτρα: Τι είναι αυτό; Καινούριο δάνειο 100 δισεκατομμύρια ευρώ; |
| Fay: What is this? A new hundred-billion-euro loan? |
| Γυναίκα: Ναι. Σχεδόν 80 εκατομμύρια κάθε μήνα για τους επόμενους δώδεκα μήνες. |
| Fay: Yes. About eighty million every month for the next twelve months. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Δηλαδή, είναι 1000 ευρώ κάθε μήνα για κάθε Έλληνα πολίτη; |
| Fay: So it is one thousand euro every month for every Greek citizen? |
| Γυναίκα: Μακάρι! |
| Fay: We wish! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Fay: So περίπτερο (periptero) means “kiosk.” |
| Chrissi: Yes. |
| Fay: And it’s like a newsstand? |
| Chrissi: Not exactly—it’s a cross between a newsstand and a convenience store. |
| Fay: And what’s so unique about it? Such stores are everywhere in the world. |
| Chrissi: A "periptero" covers an area of just one square meter. This is, what? Less than 11 square feet? |
| Fay: Really?! And how does everything fit in there? |
| Chrissi: This is one of the great Greek mysteries. Only περιπτεράδες (peripterades), the people who own and work at them, know that. |
| Fay: And these are all over Greece? |
| Chrissi: Yes. Most Greeks will stop at least once a day at a "periptero" to buy cigarettes, a newspaper, bus tickets, a soda, a pen, or anything else that comes to mind; the "periptero" probably has it. |
| Fay: Interesting. I’ll have to check them out the next time I’m in Greece. |
| Chrissi: Sure. But for now, let’s go to our vocabulary, shall we? |
| Fay: Of course! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Fay: First, we have… |
| Chrissi: τι [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: What. |
| Chrissi: τι [slowly - broken down by syllable]. τι [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: καινούριο [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: New. |
| Chrissi: καινούριο [slowly - broken down by syllable]. καινούριο [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: κάθε [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Each, every. |
| Chrissi: κάθε [slowly - broken down by syllable]. κάθε [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: μήνας [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Month. |
| Chrissi: μήνας [slowly - broken down by syllable]. μήνας [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: επόμενους [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next. |
| Chrissi: επόμενους [slowly - broken down by syllable]. επόμενους [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: Έλληνας [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Greek. |
| Chrissi: Έλληνας [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Έλληνας [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: πολίτης [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Citizen. |
| Chrissi: πολίτης [slowly - broken down by syllable]. πολίτης [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: εκατομμύριο [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Million. |
| Chrissi: εκατομμύριο [slowly - broken down by syllable]. εκατομμύριο [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: δισεκατομμύριο [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Billion. |
| Chrissi: δισεκατομμύριο [slowly - broken down by syllable]. δισεκατομμύριο [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: μακάρι [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: To wish, hope. |
| Chrissi: μακάρι [slowly - broken down by syllable]. μακάρι [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Fay: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Fay: Isn’t there a real “I wish” in Greek? |
| Chrissi: Yes, there is. But we use it when we are wishing something to someone. |
| Fay: Like a happy birthday? |
| Chrissi: Yes. If someone has a birthday, we can say Σου εύχομαι χρόνια πολλά (Sou euchomai chronia polla) “I wish you many years” or simply χρόνια πολλά (chronia polla) “many years”. |
| Fay: But in cases when we hope for something to happen or not to happen... |
| Chrissi: …we use μακάρι (makari). For example, Μακάρι να έρθει (Makari na erthei) is “I hope that he (or she) will come.” Try repeating that. Μακάρι να έρθει (Makari na erthei). |
| Fay: Μακάρι να έρθει (Makari na erthei). How about “I hope the weather will be good tomorrow”? |
| Chrissi: Μακάρι να έχει καλό καιρό αύριο (Makari na echei kalo kairo avrio). Try repeating that, too. Μακάρι να έχει καλό καιρό αύριο (Makari na echei kalo kairo avrio). |
| Fay: It’s not that hard. By the way, the word “Greek” is a noun, right? |
| Chrissi: A noun and an adjective, like all nationalities. |
| Fay: So if we say “This is an American”… |
| Chrissi: Αυτός είναι Αμερικανός (Autos einai Amerikanos). We have a noun. |
| Fay: But if we say “Barack Obama is the American president”... |
| Chrissi: Ο Μπαράκ Ομπάμα είναι ο Αμερικανός πρόεδρος (O Mparak Ompama einai o Amerikanos proedros). We have an adjective. |
| Fay: Like in English! |
| Chrissi: Yes. There are many points in common between the two languages, and in these lessons we try to point them out so people can learn Greek more easily! |
| Fay: Great! Shall we go on to our main Grammar Point? |
| Chrissi: Sure. Let’s go! |
Lesson focus |
| Fay: What do we have for this lesson? |
| Chrissi: Numbers. |
| Fay: Like “one,” “two,” “three”? Do we learn how to count? |
| Chrissi: No. Like “singular” and “plural”; the number of nouns, articles, adjectives, et cetera. |
| Fay: In Greek we have two numbers, right? |
| Chrissi: Yes. Like most languages, modern Greek distinguishes between one and many, so the singular number refers to one person, object, or situation, and the plural number refers to more than one. |
| Fay: Let’s start with an example from our dialogue. “A month” is...? |
| Chrissi: Ένας μήνας (Enas minas). Repeat after me: [slow] Ένας μήνας (Enas minas). |
| Fay: And “two months”? In English we just add a final “-s.” In Greek? |
| Chrissi: Well, in Greek it’s more complicated. Basically, the ending of the word changes, so two months would be δύο (dyo), that’s the word for “two”, μήνες (mines), that’s the word for “months”. [slow] Δύο μήνες (Dyo mines). The final "-as" becomes "-es". |
| Fay: Right. Ένας μήνας (Enas minas). Δύο μήνες (Dyo mines). And it’s the same for all nouns? |
| Chrissi: Unfortunately, no—and this is where things might get a little complicated. |
| Fay: Why? |
| Chrissi: Because depending on the gender of the noun, the ending might change in other ways. |
| Fay: Hmm. Let’s take another example from our dialogue, this time in the neuter gender. |
| Chrissi: OK. We have ένα εκατομμύριο (ena ekatommyrio)) "one million”). |
| Fay: Right. And the plural of that—“two million”—would be? |
| Chrissi: Δύο εκατομμύρια (Dyo ekatommyria). Repeat after me. [slow] Δύο εκατομμύρια (Dyo ekatommyria). The final "-o" becomes "-a". |
| Fay: I see. How can we know how the ending will change. |
| Chrissi: Basically through memorization—and experience! |
| Fay: Luckily, in our PDF we have codified all these changes, right? |
| Chrissi: Yes! So please download the PDF and see how the endings change according to each gender. |
| Fay: For now, can we give some more examples? For example, how do the various means of transportation change to the plural? |
| Chrissi: Sure. Let’s see. Το τρένο (To treno)) "the train”) becomes τα τρένα (ta trena)) "the trains”). |
| Fay: “The airplane”? |
| Chrissi: Το αεροπλάνο (To aeroplano) becomes τα αεροπλάνα (ta aeroplana). |
| Fay: “A ship”? |
| Chrissi: Το πλοίο (To ploio), τα πλοία (ta ploia). |
| Fay: “A car”? |
| Chrissi: Το αυτοκίνητο (To autokinito), τα αυτοκίνητα (ta autokinita). |
| Fay: These all sound similar. Is it because they are all in the neuter gender? |
| Chrissi: Yes. Practice them and you will begin to understand how nouns form the plural. |
| Fay: Let’s leave it at that for this lesson. Download the PDF and do some studying, and we’ll revisit them in a future lesson. Bye-bye for now! |
| Chrissi: Γεια χαρά! (Geia chara!) |
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